The present variety of nectarine tree resulted from an on-going program of fruit and nut tree breeding. The purpose of this program is to improve the commercial quality of deciduous fruit and nut varieties, and rootstocks, by creating and releasing promising selections of Prunus, Malus, Punica and Juglans species. To this end we make both controlled and hybrid cross pollinations each year to produce seedling populations from which improved progenies are evaluated and selected.
The seedling, ‘Burnectthirtyfour’ was originated by us, and selected from a population of seedlings growing in our experimental orchards which are located near Fowler, Calif. The seedlings, grown on their own roots, were derived from planting seed of a Burchell seedling, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,589, titled “Nectarine tree named ‘Burnectseven’” used as the female parent. The pollen parent of this seedling was from a non-patented seedling, ‘E49.006’. The resulting fruit was collected from the female parent at a mature stage and seeds were extracted in August of 2003. After a period of stratification, the seed was placed in the greenhouse by population, and then field planted for tree establishment, and ultimately to exhibit fruit for evaluation. One yellow-fleshed nectarine seedling, which is the present variety, exhibited especially desirable characteristics, and was then designated as ‘M17.023’. This seedling was marked for subsequent observation. After the 2005 fruiting season, the new variety of nectarine tree was selected for advanced evaluation and repropagation.